17 Works, January 2nd. is Piero di Cosimo’s day, her art, illustrated with footnotes #259

Cosimo Rosselli (1439–1507)
Descent from Mount Sinai, circa 1480
Fresco
Height: 350 cm (11.4 ft) Width: 572 cm (18.7 ft)
Sistine Chapel

In the upper part is Moses kneeling on Mount Sinai, with a sleeping Joshua nearby: he receives the Tables of the Law from Yahweh, who appears in a luminescent cloud, surrounded by angels. In the foreground, on the left, Moses brings the Tables to the Israelites. In the background is camp of tents, with the altar of the golden calf in the middle; the Israelites, spurred by Aaron, are adoring it: the position of some of them, painted from behind, was usually used for negative characters, such as Judas Iscariot in the Last Supper. Once seeing that, Moses, in the center, gets angry and breaks the Tables on the ground. The right background depicts the punishment of the idolatrous and the receiving of the new Tables. Joshua, in the blue and yellow, appears with Moses. More on this painting

Piero di Cosimo (2 January 1462[1] — 12 April 1522), also known as Piero di Lorenzo, was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. He is most famous for the mythological and allegorical subjects he painted in the late Quattrocento; he is said to have abandoned these to return to religious subjects under the influence of Savonarola, the preacher who exercised a huge sway in Florence in the 1490s, and had a similar effect on Botticelli. The High Renaissance style of the new century had little influence on him, and he retained the straightforward realism of his figures, which combines with an often whimsical treatment of his subjects to create the distinctive mood of his works…

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14 Works, November 26th. is Antonio Carneo’s day, his art, illustrated with footnotes #241

Carneo Antonio
Proof of poison, c. 1670-1680
Oil on canvas
175 x 178 cm
Ado Furlan Foundation

Depicting a young man who compresses his bowels in the presence of a group of bystanders who follow his spasms with apprehension or try to help him, it is described ab antiquo with the title with which it is still remembered today. However, since it is difficult to represent a generic poisoning scene (provoked or self-induced), one wonders whether the artist did not want to illustrate a specific character in the episode in question. Among the proposals advanced by scholars, that of the young Mithridates who undergoes the poison test in order to immunize himself remains one of the most plausible. More on this painting

Antonio Carneo (1637–1692) was an Italian painter, active in Friuli and Venice, and depicting both mythologic, allegoric, and religious canvases, as well as portraits…

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19 Works, November 19th. is Louis de Boullogne’s day, his art, illustrated with footnotes #237

Louis Boullogne the Younger
Apollo and Daphne
Oil on canvas
h: 75,50 w: 139 cm
Private collection

This painting illustrates an episode taken from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (I, 464–577). Falling in love with the nymph Daphne, determined to remain chaste, Apollo pursues her in the woods. Begging her father, the river god Peneus, to deliver her, Daphne is then transformed into a laurel. Louis de Boullogne produced a first illustration of the theme, probably in the 1680s. This painting has recently reappeared on the art market. More on this painting

Louis de Boullogne II (19 November 1654–2 November 1733), known as Boullogne fils, was a French painter.

Boullogne was born and died in Paris, and was the brother of Bon Boullogne. Their father, Louis Boullogne, feared rivalry between the two brothers if Louis the younger became a painter and so at first opposed his wish to do so. However, his vocation finally won through and every evening Louis crossed Paris to go with Bon to draw at the Académie. Aged 18 he won the grand prix de peinture and left for Rome in 1676, when his brother returned from there. He made copies after The School of Athens, Disputation of the Holy Sacrament and many other works by Raphael, from which the Gobelins made many different tapestries for the French king.

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12 Works, July 3rd. is John Singleton Copley’s day, his story, illustrated with footnotes #180

John Singleton Copley
Watson and the Shark, c. 1778
Oil on canvas
182.1 x 229.7 cm (71 11/16 x 90 7/16 in.)
The National Gallery of Art

In 1749, 14–year–old Brook Watson had been attacked by a shark while swimming in Havana Harbor. Copley’s pictorial account of the traumatic ordeal shows nine seamen rushing to help the boy, while the bloody water proves he has just lost his right foot. To lend equal believability to the setting Copley, who had never visited the Caribbean, consulted maps and prints of Cuba. More on this painting

John Singleton Copley RA (1738 — September 9, 1815) was an Anglo-American painter, active in both colonial America and England. Copley was born in Boston in 1738, and grew up there, training in the visual arts under his step-father Peter Pelham (c. 1697–1751), an English engraver who had immigrated in 1727 and married Copley’s widowed mother in 1748. Copley’s earliest paintings, from the mid-1750s, reveal the influence of English mezzotint portraits as well as the work of local and itinerant artists. He experimented with many media: oil on canvas, miniatures on copper or ivory, pastel, and printmaking. By the late 1750s he was established as a portrait painter…

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Sebastiano Ricci, BELLUNO 1659 – 1734 VENICE, VENUS IN THE FORGE OF VULCAN 01 Paintings, Olympian deities, by the Old Masters, with footnotes, #10a

Sebastiano Ricci, BELLUNO 1659 – 1734 VENICE

VENUS IN THE FORGE OF VULCAN

Venus going to Vulcan for the Arms of Aeneas

Oil on canvas

73 1/8  by 102 1/2  in.; 185.7 by 260.2 cm.

Private collection

Venus, the goddess of love, looks down at Cupid. Venus went to her husband Vulcan’s forge and asked him to make arms for her son Aeneas. 

Sebastiano Ricci (1 August 1659 – 15 May 1734) was an Italian painter of the late Baroque school of Venice. About the same age as Piazzetta, and an elder contemporary of Tiepolo, he represents a late version of the vigorous and luminous Cortonesque style of grand manner fresco painting. More on Sebastiano Ricci

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03 Paintings, scenes from Olympian Myth, by The Old Masters, with footnotes # 42

Mihail Aleksandrov

Girl with swan

Oil on canvas

22″ x 26″

Private collection

Leda, in Greek legend, usually believed to be the daughter of Thestius, king of Aetolia, and wife of Tyndareus, king of Lacedaemon. She was also believed to have been the mother (by Zeus, who had approached and seduced her in the form of a swan) of the other twin, Pollux, and of Helen, both of whom hatched from eggs. Variant legends gave divine parentage to both the twins and possibly also to Clytemnestra, with all three of them having hatched from the eggs of Leda, while yet other legends say that Leda bore the twins to her mortal husband, Tyndareus. Still other variants say that Leda may have hatched out Helen from an egg laid by the goddess Nemesis, who was similarly approached by Zeus in the form of a swan.The divine swan’s encounter with Leda was a subject depicted by both ancient Greek and Italian Renaissance artists; Leonardo da Vinci undertook a painting (now lost) of the theme, and Correggio’s Leda (c. 1530s) is a well-known treatment of the subject. More Leda and The Swan

 

Mihail Aleksandrov was born in Vilnius, Lithuania in June 1949. He attended the Vilnius Art School classes for five years and then studied at the Vilnius Pedagogical Institute. He received his degree in Russian Language and Literature in 1971.

Following his graduation, Aleksandrov taught Art Technique for five years. While he was continuing to produce artwork during his teaching years, it was not until 1978 that he began selling his paintings through various art dealers networks. In 1979, he emigrated to America and settled in Los Angeles, CA. He spent a year there before moving permanently to New York, NY in 1982.

His works are part of the official collections of the State Russian Museum of Saint Petersburg and the Moscow Museum of Contemporary Art, in Russia. More Mihail Aleksandrov

Attributed to Antonio Balestra Verona, 1666 – 1740 

Vulcan presenting Venus arms of Aeneas 

Oil on canvas

h: 111 w: 116.50 cm

Private collection

In Virgil’s epic Aeneid, Venus seduces Vulcan and persuades him to forge weapons for her son Aeneas. Verona’s painting shows Vulcan offering the goddess armour. To his right is a putti holding a shield. Aeneid laying between them. 

Antonio Balestra (12 August 1666 – 21 April 1740) was an Italian painter of the Rococo period. Born in Verona, he first apprenticed there with Giovanni Zeffio. By 1690 he moved to Venice, where he worked for three years under Antonio Bellucci, then moved to Bologna and then to paint in Carlo Maratta’s workshop in Rome. In 1694, he won a prize from the Accademia di San Luca. He later painted both in Verona and Venice; although his influence was stronger in the mainland. More

Paul Elie Ranson, 1861 – 1909

DEUX NYMPHES SURPRISES PAR UN CAVALIER, c. 1905

TWO NYMPHES SURPRISED BY A RIDER

Pastel on canvas

18 1/8 x 21 5/8 in.

Private collection

Paul Elie Ranson (1861-1909) Painter, decorator, tapestry draftsman, engraver, lithographer and illustrator, attended the School of Fine Arts of Limoges, before joining the Académie Julian in Paris. – Close to Maurice Denis, Paul Sérusier or Aristide Maillol, he takes an active role in the creation of the Nabi group. More on Paul Elie Ranson

Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida

Bacante (also known as Bacchante), circa 1880

Oil on canvas

70 cm (27.56 in.), Width: 45 cm (17.72 in.)

Private collection

In Greek mythology, maenads were the female followers of Dionysus and the most significant members of the Thiasus, the god’s retinue. Their name literally translates as “raving ones.” Maenads were known as Bassarids, Bacchae or Bacchantes in Roman mythology after the penchant of the equivalent Roman god, Bacchus, to wear a bassaris or fox-skin. More Bacante

Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (27 February 1863 – 10 August 1923) was a Spanish painter. Sorolla excelled in the painting of portraits, landscapes, and monumental works of social and historical themes. His most typical works are characterized by a dexterous representation of the people and landscape under the sunlight of his native land. More

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03 Paintings, Olympian deities, by the Old Masters, with footnotes # 13

George Frederick Watts, 1817 – 1904

UNDINE

Oil on panel

24 1/4 by 23 3/4 in., 61.6 by 60.3 cm

Private collection

Undine is a fairy-tale novella by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué in which Undine, a water spirit, marries a knight named Huldebrand in order to gain a soul. It is an early German romance, which has been translated into English and other languages.

During the nineteenth century the book was very popular. The story is descended from Melusine, the French folk-tale of a water-sprite who marries a knight on condition that he shall never see her on Saturdays, when she resumes her mermaid shape. It was also inspired by works by the occultist Paracelsus. More on Udine

George Frederic Watts OM RA (London 23 February 1817 – 1 July 1904) was a popular English Victorian painter and sculptor associated with the Symbolist movement. He said “I paint ideas, not things.” Watts became famous in his lifetime for his allegorical works, such as Hope and Love and Life. These paintings were intended to form part of an epic symbolic cycle called the “House of Life”, in which the emotions and aspirations of life would all be represented in a universal symbolic language. More on George Frederic

Luca Giordano, called Luca Fa Presto

VENUS AT VULCAN’S FORGE

signed on the rock lower center: .LG. (in ligature)

oil on canvas

70 1/8  by 89 7/8  in.; 180 by 228.3 cm.

Private collection

The scene is set in the “underground cavern and galleries leading from [Mount] Etna” on the island of Sicily, the location of Vulcan’s forge, as described in the Aeneid (8.370-453). Here, Vulcan– the god of fire and metalworking—engages in discourse with his wife Venus as he and his workers create what will become arms that she will later give to her mortal son Aeneas. At Venus’ side is Cupid, who clings to her for protection amidst the fire and cacophony of sound.  More on this painting

 

Luca Giordano (18 October 1634 – 12 January 1705) was an Italian late Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples and Rome, Florence and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain.

Born in Naples, Giordano was the son of the painter Antonio Giordano. In around 1650 he was apprenticed to Ribera, and his early work was heavily influenced by his teacher. Like Ribera, he painted many half-length figures of philosophers, either imaginary portraits of specific figures, or generic types.

He acquired the nickname Luca fa presto, which translates into “Luca paints quickly.” His speed, in design as well as handiwork, and his versatility, which enabled him to imitate other painters deceptively, earned for him two other epithets, “The Thunderbolt” (Fulmine) and “The Proteus” of painting.

Following a period studying in Rome, Parma and Venice, Giordano developed an elaborate Baroque style fusing Venetian and Roman Influences. His mature work combines the ornamental pomp of Paul Veronese with the lively complex schemes, the “grand manner”, of Pietro da Cortona. He is also noted for his lively and showy use of colour. More Luca Giordano

Frederic, Lord Leighton, P.R.A., 1830-1896

VENUS AND CUPID

oil on canvas

58 by 18 3/4 in., 147.3 by 47.6 cm

Private collection

Venus and Love/ Venus and Cupid. Different tales exist about the origin of Venus and Cupid. Some say that Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, had a love affair with Mars, the god of war. Out of this relationship, Cupid was born. 

Cupid has attributes from both of his parents. Like his mother he is considered to be the god of love, or more precisely, the god of falling in love. He is portrayed as an innocent little child with bow and arrows. He shoots arrows to the heart, and awakening a love that you’re powerless to resist.

Venus and Cupid are often shown in intimate poses, reflecting the unique love between mother and child. More Venus and Love

Frederic, Lord Leighton, P.R.A., 1830-1896

VENUS AND CUPID

Detail

Frederic Leighton, 1830–1896, British, English. (Born Scarborough, 3 December 1830; died London, 25 January 1896). English painter, draughtsman, and occasional sculptor, one of the dominant figures of late Victorian art. He travelled widely in Europe as a boy and his artistic education was gained principally in Frankfurt, Rome, and Paris. It was not until 1859 that he settled in England, but he had earlier made his name with Cimabue’s Celebrated Madonna is Carried in Procession through the Streets of Florence, which he painted in Rome: it was exhibited at the 1855 Royal Academy exhibition and bought by Queen Victoria (it is now on loan from the Royal Collection to the National Gallery, London).

From the mid-1860s he enjoyed a level of worldly success. He became president of the Royal Academy in 1878, was made a baronet in 1886, and a few days before he died was raised to the peerage, the first (and so far only) British artist to be so honoured. 

He is best known for his paintings of classical Greek subjects, the finest of which are distinguished by magnificently opulent colouring as well as splendid draughtsmanship. As a sculptor his output was small. The finished life-size bronze is in Tate Britain and there are various smaller models and versions, including one in Leighton House, the sumptuously decorated house and studio he built in the fashionable Holland Park area of London, now a museum dedicated to him. More Frederic Leighton

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